Many English students make mistakes with articles — ‘a’, ‘an’, and ‘the’. This free English lesson teaches you how to use articles correctly. If you have any questions about this lesson, leave a comment below. If you have other English questions, ask me on the forum.

Hi James, nice to see you!
Regard to articles, we also often use “the” before plural nouns.
For instance: Both of the teachers are very good.
How we can exactly define when “the” is expected before plural nouns and when not?

Monday, November 3rd 2008

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hi maxim,

sometimes you can use “the” before plural nouns and it is depend on the purpose you use it. well if someone uses “the” before a plural it reflect 2 things.

the plural noun specific.
the plural noun is a general thing.

otherwise please use “a” or “an” before the plural verb.make your attention on plural verbs which starts with vowel sound and at that time you must use “an” before noun. for other consonant sounds you should use “a” before plural verb.

Iam sorry to inform u that, iam not able to speak fluent english properly. Your Articles teaching video was very fine. Iam eager to know, if u can teach me, Quick methods of learning English Grammer. I thank u very much for you & your teaching video. now i got some idea about articles.

Hi Maxim. In the case of the plural nouns you mentioned the rules are the same. If you noticed, you used “The” to indicate that you were talking about two specific teachers. Also, you know that I know who you are talking about. So the rules apply:

1. If you all people know who you are talking about use “The”
2. If who you are talking about is specific use “The”

Saturday, November 8th 2008

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Hi James. I am from India.
Why do generally people speak like “The United States of America and not “The India”?

Hi James! One question about using a/the. If I want to say “You are a great teacher!”, why shouldn’t I use “the”? I mean, I’m speaking about specific teacher. Or not?
And the same: you said “it was a good lesson”, but why “a” if you speak about this specific lesson? I just can’t understand this situations… Hope you’ll help! Thank you!

Hi James. Before all I want to say thank you very much, because I am learning a lot with your classes. I have a question: I did not understand the cases where I have to use “an”. I got I have to use it when the next word begins with a vowel but I did not get the other case, about the sound of the next word. Could you explain me, please?

Hi James. Firs of all thanks for videos. they help me when i learn english. I have a few sentences, which i need to know are they correct, can you help me to check them? ((my answer: a, an, the or – ))

“Excuse me, please. Can you tell me how to get to …. airport? (-)
“I’m going away for …. week in September (a)
“There were no chairs, so we had to sit on floor” (i put “the” next to “on”)

I also have a question about the usage of articles that is not mentioned in the vid.
What about articles with enumerations. Is it common to use definite and undefinite articles with count nouns in long lists like for example:

On the table there is a pen, a book, a magazine, a piece of paper, a stapler, a notebook, and a key.

Video is great, but it would be great to get more explanation where exactly use it. I am from Czech, we are not using articles. I understood everything from the video but in the quiz is correct answer: A pen is on the table. So why is not there A pen is on a table… We are speaking first time about pen and first time about table aswell…its weird sometimes

JAMES You are really doing a fine job.
I am a student and preparing for my exams, your English videos are really helping. I am trying to follow most of your lectures . Its only that I have some problems with phrasal verbs, how to memorize all their meanings.
For Now YOU ARE MY HERO…! PLS REPLY..!

By the way, I have a question about Articles. The other day, I was reading news paper and I found out one sentence, television, the Internet, the telephone. Why is there no the for television??? Why two of them got the while the other does not?? Please, let me know.

hi James’
what article do i use before the word Ear. i’m confused as the word starts with a vowel but does it take the vowel sound.
please answer this quickly. i’ve my exams following.
sorry to burden you.

I am hoping you will continue sharing of all the knowledge you gained because this is very helpful not only to me but to all viewers of your website..Thank you to all teachers shared their ideas especially to you teacher James.

I like your vedios. it helps me lot in my exams and in conversation.I have problems with SUBORDINATORS AND TRANSITION WORDS.If possible for u please give me some idia about that. I will be very thankfull for that my exam is on next monday.

You made a mistake with your sentence: “everyone knows what your talking about.” It should be “everyone knows what YOU’RE talking about. I think you are a good teacher but you have to be careful next time. :).. no offense meant. I like your teaching method by the way.. :)

hi James, I just signed up. Appreciate your time helping people to improve their language. I kind of speak very good english but I still need help :(. I always use find it difficult using articles although I understand the basic rule how and when to use them. However, I found it difficult in a bigger sentence such as “.. its impact on sanitation, the spread of diseases, the distraction of infrastructure…”. Do you the THE used in this sentence in two places is correct? Please could you explain. Thank you so much. Look forward to hearing from you.

I would greatly appreciate if you help me with the following:
‘In history’ – We use zero article, because noun is uncountable and non-specific.
‘In United states history’ – In this case noun is specific for me and i don’t understand why i can’t use ‘the’ article.
Thanks in advance.

Hi, Magda
Is there any mistake in this sentence?
On 26th of this month my the whole family is going to celebrate the new baby’s birthday of my sister.
I’m talking with someone who knows the matter. Thanks in advance.

hi james first of all i would like to thank you i am 16 years old
mmm my english is verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry very very bad i have problems in present past future simple… and also i have problems in conversation with others soooooo i need help please;(

Hi James,
first I wanna thank you for all your valuable video lessons. These articles have been haunting me and I thought it was time that I needed an expert’s help. When it comes to articles, it seems like everyone talks about general and specific things. I no longer have problems with them. But it seems like they are pretty often used regardless of those rules.
For example
1)the water vs water

2) get in line!! vs hold the line!

I assume that the best thing I can do with them
is to just memorize them but I am wondering if
you have any other idea to make it any easier.
thank you

hi James, I am chaminda from sri lanka Going to seat for IELTS General Exam in Next Month help me for Writing and Reading Module and How to Prepare for IELTS good Marks. Give me Your Opinions & advice Please help me

Hi , James , I want to ask of you. can you give us some paragraphs for this subject? and can you write all example in the blackboard? please, James, you are awesome teacher and you are awesome teachers in this world. thank you very much for help.

Hi. me again. i know there’s a lot of comments flooding in and you’re probably busy answering some but just like others i’m confused. someone told me the difference between “the”(pronounced as duh) and “the” (pronounce as deeh) depends on the first letter of the next word. example.
– the (deeh) elephant is old.
– the (duh) food is expired.

Hi James,
I teach English in a secondary school in Toulouse, France.
I like the way you explain the present simple. Do you do the same thing with the present be-ing and the present perfect ?
About “the article”, could you tell me, how do you explain “what a beautiful day”. Thanks.
Best regards

My teacher told me that I can use “the” for plural. Is it correct?
I’m not sure. When do I use “an”?
I use “an” when the words begin with the “vowel”.
Why do we use “a” for European or University? When do I use “a” instead “an” for the words begin with the vowels sound?
Thank you so much :)

Hi James, this website and the lessons presented by you and other teachers have helped me to improve my grammar. I would like to request you to explain the use of ‘THE’ where required and not required with some examples that would help remember. Thanks!

I recently read somewhere that we can’t use an article before an adjective if the adjective is followed by a abstract noun…how far is this correct…any exceptions to this rule…?
e.g. A great misrey resented upon them.
OR Great misery resented upon them.

hi James,
I still confuse when to use ‘a’ and ‘the’. if i said that past tense more prefer to use ‘a’, is it correct ? example ; He ate a bowl of rice yesterday. My mother gave me a doll yesterday. And what about L-license ? why must to use an L-license ?

a cat is an animal: indefinite, non-specific
I was bitten by a big cat last night: Indefinite article, specific (not any cat)
The cat that bit me last night was big: Definite article, specific object.
The rule that says first time you should say ‘a’, and second time ‘the’ is not correct, as you can use the indefinite article for specific things. ‘I saw a great guitar last night’ indefinite. specific.
‘the guitar I saw last night was great’ definite and specific. Get it? we can use ‘a’ for specific objects. Understand that and you have come a long way to cracking the articles.

Hi, could You explain me please “what seems to be THE or A problem?” Which is grammatically correct, because we can use “A” as, for example, i do not know what kind of problem it is. And we can use “THE” as it can be specific thing. Google says that only “THE” will be correct in any case. Is it so? Thank You!

My name is Milos and am a Serbian. I’ve been in the States for three years. I like watching your videos, you guys are really doing a great job! I have a question about this video. At some point you wrote: “Everyone knows what your talking about”. The keyword is “your”. I know that contraction for “you are” is “you’re” but till now I thought that “your” as a contraction for “you are” is a grammar mistake. I guess this is just another acceptable contraction in a written English. How about official written English and business English?

HI, I have question about gender nouns. Is there any grammatical explanation for identifying neuter, masculine or feminine nouns? I know some nouns which are easy to know what types of nouns they are related to. For example, actor and actress ( masculine; feminine). But how to identify the type of other nouns? Thanks in advance!!

hi james i want 2 ask a doubt on the usage of ‘the’ word ( ‘the’ is not used in front of words like school,office etc but we use sentence like ‘she went to the office’ like that hear we using ‘the’ in front of words like office why we using ‘the’ in front of the ward like office why

Hi James, thank you for all your lessons:) They really helped me, but I have a question, why did you say “That was A good lesson”, instead of that was The good lesson? All people know what you were talking about and lesson is specific. Thank you.

Hi James,
First of all, thank you for creating this video.
No one, I repeat no one has ever simplified the usage of “the”.
My query: Financial analyst roles in ‘the’ market or Financial analyst roles in market?

Hey ,
First of all i would like to thank for your help , you’re lesson was really useful . Second , I have a quistion . What about countable and non countable nouns , should we use articels with non countble nouns? what about ” advice” ?
please reply me :)
thank you a lot

Thank you James and engVid.com !
I’d like people here to help me that I could not hear several words.
In the begining, James said that
Hi I’m James, I was just reading that philadelphia xxxxx. There are American xxxx team, they won a baseball game, in fact they won the biggest baseball game ever world series.

Hi James. I like your pedagogy. I am preparing for business school entry exams and there they check the student comprehensively. I have seen books explaining the usage of articles over 4-5 pages. It explains to use “the” before this and not before that. Like use before rivers but not before lakes. What’s that all about? Is it more about our understanding or we need to learn it all?

Hi James
can you give me the right answer of this question:
*fill the space using ( a/ an/the /no article )…?
1-she took ——-sandwich and ——–piece of cake , but she didn’t eat ——–cake
#I think that the first space is (a), the second is ( a )and the third is (the)
* thanks*

Hello James,
Are there any exercises here on your website related to your lesson? It has been very useful for me, better than any other grammar book I use for teaching English to my Italian students! Thanks in advance for your reply. bye
Silvia

I’d like to thank you for your job here. It has been helping quite a lot all of us that need or want to learn english the right way. I have a question to you. University and European have you/your sound. Are these the only exception in usage of an?

James: You are my favorite ESL teacher, but there are a few problems with this lesson. First, “the” is used with singular AND plural nouns. For example: “The pens are in the desk.” Second, not an ESL problem, but I’m sure you know that the Philadelphia Flyers play hockey, not baseball. The Philadelphia Phillies play baseball.

hi, James! Why did you say “it was A good lesson”? We all know what was you talking about, why didn’t you say “it was THE good lesson”? I can understand all of English tenses but articles are so hard for me((

Hi james, thanks a lot for your classes, they are great. Im new here and I want to ask you why some native speakers pronounce the article ” the” a little different, when you say “the” the “e” word sounds like the “a” word in “apple” some people pronounce the “e” word like “ea” when you say “eagle”.I hope you understand my question. Thanks again for the lesson. Bye

Hi James !!! I look at your lessons with great pleasure, because you understand all the details and are explained !!! You can be attributed to one of the best teachers (as Roni Adam) on your site !!! Good luck James in your business !!!!! My assessment of your lesson 10/10!

Friday, March 27th 2015

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Learn English for free with 807 video lessons by experienced native-speaker teachers. Classes cover English grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, IELTS, TOEFL, and more. Join millions of ESL students worldwide who are improving their English every day with engVid.

Learn English for free with 807 video lessons by experienced native-speaker teachers. Classes cover English grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, IELTS, TOEFL, and more. Join millions of ESL students worldwide who are improving their English every day with engVid.